The United States has alerted Russia privately of “catastrophic” consequences in case if it uses nuclear weapons as part of the Ukraine invasion. The top officials have made the following statement of U.S.
The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, made a thinly veiled thread to use nuclear arms in a speech Wednesday in which he made an announcement about the mobilization of reservists after Ukrainian gains on the ground.
On Sunday, Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has confirmed reports that the United States has sent private warnings to Russia to steer clear of nuclear war.
Blinken said that, “We have been very clear with the Russians publicly, and, as well as privately, to control the loose talk about nuclear weapons.”
Blinken added that, “It is very important that Moscow hear from us and know from us that the consequences would be horrific. And we have made that very clear.”
“Any use of nuclear arms would have catastrophic effects for, of course, the nation using them, but for many others as well.”
Meanwhile, Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security advisor, said that the United States has warned Russia at “very high levels” of “catastrophic consequences” for using nuclear arms.
The United States & its allies would “respond decisively,” Sullivan said.
“We have been clear & specific about what that will entail.”
Russia as well as the United States are the world’s largest nuclear weapons powers but separate from the threats of planetary destruction, Russian military doctrine permits the use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield to force an enemy to retreat.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, asked at a news conference Saturday at the United Nations about Putin’s comments, said only that Moscow’s doctrine “is an open document.”
No country has used nuclear weapons on the battlefield except the United States in 1945, when it destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more than 200,000 people. Imperial Japan surrendered days later, ending World War II.